THE WOMEN AT THEIR DOORS

The babes were asleep in their cradles,

And the day's drudge was done,

And the women brought their suppers out

To eat them in the sun.

“To-night I will set my needles, Aine,

And Eoghan will have stockings to wear:

I spun the wool of the horny ewe

He bought at the hiring fair....

“But what is that sound I hear, Nabla?—

It is like the cheering of men.

God keep our kind from the devil's snare!”

And the women answered, “Amen!”

Then the moon rose over the valley,

And the cheering died away,

And the women went within their doors

At the mouth of the summer day.

And no men came in at midnight,

And no men came in at the dawn,

And the women keened by their ashy fires

Till their faces were haggard and wan.

For they knew they had gone to the trysting

With pike and musketoon,

To fight for their hearths and altars

At the rising of the moon!